The reality of life here under the devastating impact of the US "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign is the one big story from Iran that's mostly missing in the headlines. If you haven't heard about this, you are not alone. Nobody, certainly not the main protagonists, seems the least bit interested in talking about the devastation of human life in Iran today. It is as if a conspiracy of silence has been cast over the whole issue. -Ahmad Jalalpour, The Nation 1/22/20

When I visited Iran this summer, severe panic attacks, depression, and anxiety-longstanding byproducts of post-traumatic stress disorder-caused me to seek out a trauma therapist. After weeks of contacting Iranian pharmacies, hospitals, charities, and relief organizations, my prescriptions for Zoloft, Xanax, Ativan, and Clonazepam remained unfilled. Since the United States exited the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA) and imposed new sanctions, this kind of shortage has become commonplace. 1/18/20

Nowadays, medical tourism is considered as a booming industry on the global scene as some 20 to 24 million patients are traveling for medical treatments annually. Estimates on market size vary but the Patients Without Borders publishing group puts its value at around 60 to 80 billion Euros worldwide. But why Iran? Here we briefly try to answer. Iran boasts credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations, super affordable procedures within a trusted health system, and finally it is home to many hospitable people. -Tehran Times 12/31/19

Due to air pollution and increased particulate matters in provinces of Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Markazi, Qazvin, Qom, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Khuzestan, and Yazd, 13,931 people referred to hospital emergency services throughout the country, of whom 8,547 were cardiac patients and 5,384 were respiratory patients, according to Mojtaba Khaledi, Emergency Medical Services Organization spokesman. 12/27/19

Limited access to medicine has frustrated Iranian patients and their families, especially after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018. The U.S. withdrawal led to the return of economic, trade and financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. While humanitarian goods are exempt from sanctions, medication manufacturers in Iran face many challenges because of other sanctions, including banking and transaction restrictions. -Somayeh Malekian, ABC News 12/27/19

Although food and medicine are claimed to be exempted from U.S. sanctions, financial and banking sanctions have limited the life-saving medicine trade which harshly targeted the patients suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare genetic disease that causes painful blistering of the skin. -Faranak Bakhtiari, Tehran Times 12/24/19

The spokesman of Iran's Emergency Services Organization said December 23 that in the past 24 hours 2,426 people visited hospital emergency rooms. These were people with heart and respiratory diseases who are most vulnerable to air pollution. The spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told the government news website IRNA that emergency cases were the highest in Tehran Province, with 1,209 people seeking help. -Radio Farda 12/24/19

Iranian professor Hossein Baharvand has been awarded in the third edition of Mustafa Prize ceremony for developing stem cell therapy for the Parkinson's disease and the age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The professor of biology and stem cells technology at Iran's Royan Institute is going to evaluate the new therapy in clinical trials in 2020. -IFP 12/19/19

An estimated 20 million anti-personnel landmines were planted on roughly 16,200 square miles along the 680-mile Iran-Iraq border during the bloody eight-year conflict. Though the war ended thirty-one years ago, it still continues to claim lives. According to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, by 2016, almost 10,000 Iranians had been indiscriminately killed. Still, the average Iranian isn't even aware that these killing fields exist in border provinces such as Ilam, Kermanshah, Khuzestan, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan. -Holly Darges, Atlantic Council 12/17/19

The number of people visiting national health centers in Iran has dropped 30% in the last Iranian calendar year (ending March 21, 2019), says the deputy head of the Salamat (Health) Insurance and Health Services, Kourosh Farzin. "Health services' costs have increased in Iran so significantly that they are not proportional to the families' income," Farzin noted, adding, "People do not visit physicians for their routine health problems, anymore." 12/17/19

A member of Tehran's Chamber of Commerce has told local media that a few American drug companies have obtained permission from the U.S. government to export medicines to Iran. ILNA news website in Tehran quotes Alireza Kolahi as saying that the drug companies have also proposed the names of several Iranian banks as payment channels and the U.S. government has approved two banks. -Radio Farda 12/16/19

The US Treasury Department has stressed that Washington's newly announced sanctions targeting Iran's air and maritime transport industries will lead to the restriction of trade related to humanitarian goods. "US persons will be prohibited from engaging in transactions involving Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) or E-Sail, including transactions for the sale of agricultural commodities, food, medicine, or medical devices," the Treasury's guidelines on Iran sanctions read. -Press TV 12/13/19

A Swiss channel for the export of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods to Iran is to open "within months", officials have told Reuters, amid Europe's failure to launch its long-awaited Iran channel known as INSTEX. Senior Swiss and American officials have told Reuters that Bern is "working hard" to make its special humanitarian channel operational within the coming months. 12/12/19

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that those countries which seemingly support the 2015 nuclear deal are unfortunately preventing exports of medicines for special patients in Iran. "As the issue is necessary and important, I am telling to the Europeans once again that Iran does not expect a country which has voiced support for the JCPOAto prevent a pharmaceutical company from exporting medicines for patients suffering from special diseases," Zarif said 12/5/19

Schools and universities have been shut in parts of Iran including the capital, Tehran, due to high levels of pollution, state media report. The decision to shut schools and universities in the capital on November 30 was announced late on November 29 by Deputy Governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency committee for air pollution. -RFE/RL 11/30/19

The governor of Tehran province said on Tuesday that elementary schools in cities of Tehran, as well as in Varamin, Qarchak and Pishva, all to the south of the capital, will be closed on Wednesday given that an index measuring the quality of the air in those cities was still at unhealthy levels, especially for sensitive groups of the population. 11/13/19

Iranian children suffering from a rare skin condition known as EB are losing their lives as US economic sanctions hamper the flow of vital medical products, an NGO says. Hamid Reza Hashemi-Golayegani, the head of the NGO that helps such patients, said Sunday that at least 15 Iranian children with epidermolysis bullosa (EB) have died since the US launched its new sanctions on Iran in August. -Press TV 11/11/19

More than three weeks after the enraged people of a village in southwest Iran poured into streets accusing medical authorities of infecting dozens with the HIV virus, the head of the Islamic Republic center for strategic medical sciences research has confirmed that the village and its nearby town are indeed a center of HIV infections. -Radio Farda 10/31/19

The Trump administration's broad sanctions on Iran have drastically constrained the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines, causing serious hardships for ordinary Iranians and threatening their right to health, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The administration in Washington should take immediate steps to ensure a viable channel exists for trade of humanitarian goods with Iran. 10/29/19

Hundreds of people suffering from respiratory problems have visited the medical centers in the city of Ahvaz in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, southwest Iran, after first seasonal rains that were mixed with air pollutants. 10/28/19

Tuberculosis treatment in Iran is completely free of charge despite the fact that it costs $120 to $60,000 per patient depending on the situation's severity, head of tuberculosis control department of Health Ministry has said. 10/28/19

Iranian businesses and lawmakers are complaining that the South Korean government has not done enough to ensure that exports of pharmaceutical products to Iran continues despite American sanctions that have restricted banking transaction. "We expect that the (South) Korean government solves the banking problems with special care," said Pouya Firouzi, who serves as the secretary of Iran-South Korea joint chamber of commerce, on Saturday. -Press TV 10/20/19

Every 40 minutes, a woman in Iran is diagnosed with breast cancer, indicating a sharp rise in prevalence of the disease, founder of a national campaign for fighting breast cancer has said. At present, 8 percent of the female population in the country are impacted with the disease, and among each 8 affected women only 2 are aware of their disease, Afsaneh Eghbal Nia lamented. 10/11/19

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva has lashed out at the US for imposing cruel sanctions against Iran, warning that the negative consequences of such measures turn it into a "crime against humanity." -Press TV 9/13/19

Problems in transferring money from foreign banks and using foreign exchange has been hindering the import of pharmaceutical raw materials into the country for a long time, announced the director of medical supply department at the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS). 8/20/19

Hanapp, a new application designed by an Iranian startup, improves quality of life for people with hearing loss and significantly helps them better communicate with others, IRNA reported on Friday. According to Alireza Abadian, the technical manager of the startup, 'hanapp' has been designed by using artificial intelligence. The application has a variety of components that help the people with hearing impairment to do their daily chores and have easier lives. 8/5/19

Anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties of the pharmaceutical molecule, mannuronic acid (M2000), have been introduced for the first time to the world by professor Abbas Mirshafiey, the faculty member at the school of public health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). 8/4/19

Brain Bank of Iran is operating under the strict supervision of Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) in Tehran and is tasked with conducting human researches in the field of nervous system diseases. This equipped center plays a leading role in the field of offering quality research & development (R&D) services to promote technical knowhow and knowledge on nervous system diseases. -Maryam Kamyab 8/2/19

Iran continues to face serious problems with the import of medicines and medical equipment as a result of sanctions imposed by the U.S., according to Behrouz Bonyadi, a lawmaker who sits on the parliamentary health and treatment commission in Tehran Sanctions "have definitely affected transactions for medicine and foodstuff," he told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on Sunday, June 2. -Radio Farda 6/4/19

Medical professionals in Iran say prices of imported medical equipment have risen 4 to 5 times in the last few months, Mehr news agency reported on Monday May 27. Vahid Karimi, the secretary of Iranian Radiology Association told Mehr that the price of laboratory equipment have risen up to five fold. The Iranian currency has depreciated more than fourfold in the last 18 months against major currencies, mainly due to U.S. sanctions. 5/27/19

The Academy of Medical Sciences of Iran has written to the UN to complain about the illegal sanctions imposed by the US against the Iranian nation, saying the restrictive measures have adversely affected the medical treatment of Iranian patients. 5/21/19

Six million Iranians hold organ donation cards, said Ali Nobakht, member of the health committee of the parliament (Majlis), adding although the number has increased over the past years, but there is still more work to be done. Thanks to infrastructure provided, today 70 percent of Iranians can register for organ donation cards, he added, ISNA reported on Monday. He made the remarks during an event held on the occasion of the National Day of Organ Donation, which was celebrated on May 20 at the Shahid Beheshti University. 5/21/19

Iran is one of the most pioneering countries in the world and the second country in the region based on stem cell knowledge and technology, Hossein Baharvand, director of Royan Institute for stem cell biology and technology, has said. Baharvand is a distinguished professor of stem cells and developmental biology at Royan Institute. -Maryam Qarehgozlou, Tehran Times 4/30/19

Iran will host The World Health Summit (WHS), one of the world's most prominent forums for addressing global health issues, announced the Iranian deputy health minister for research and technology. The World Health Summit Regional Meeting 2019 is organized by Tehran University of Medical Sciences and will be held in Persian Gulf's Kish Island on April 29-30, IRIB quoted Reza Malekzadeh as saying. 4/17/19

Ali Moridi, head of soil and water office at the Department of Environment (DOE), warned that the recent flood hitting the southwestern province of Khuzestan carried huge sediment loads which could turn into new sand and dust storm (SDS) hotspots after being dried. 4/10/19

A prominent reformist politician and activist in Iran has asked the government to reconsider its policy towards consumption of alcohol, saying that the ban on drinking is a "failed" policy. 4/1/19

Sixty-six Iranian scientific medical societies have written to the UN chief in condemnation of the "inhumane and medieval" American sanctions targeting Iran's health sector. In a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif released the letter, which had been written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on February 23. -Press TV 3/8/19

Organ donation rate has increased by 60 times over the past 18 years, though the growth is not considerable compared to the global scale, head of the transplantation and treatment of diseases department at the Ministry of Health has announced. 2/6/19

The high cost of services and medicines needed by autistic individuals and their families, combined with the lack of insurance coverage and government support, has caused many families in Iran to stop therapy for their autistic children and to be unable to afford needed medications and services. -CHRI 1/30/19

The University of Tehran will hold the first startup weekend on electronic mental health from February 20 to 22, IRNA reported on Tuesday. Mental health literacy, self-care, social-mental disorders and digital technology to prevent them as well as electronic psychiatric consultation will be discussed during the event. 1/24/19

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accepts the resignation of his health minister, Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, days after the official announced his decision to leave the cabinet over budget issues. -Press TV 1/3/19

Professor's Samii's International Neurology Center was launched in Beijing on Tue. Dec. 18 by Professor Samii, an acclaimed outstanding and distinguished Iranian neurosurgeon in the world. 12/21/18

Tehran's Air Quality Index (AQI), exceeding 150 microgram per cubic meter, has been unhealthy at nine meteorological stations across the city, spokeswoman for Tehran Air Quality Control Company has said. It is anticipated that the pollution level will increase in all parts of the capital within next hours, Fars quoted Leila Nazari as saying on Wednesday. 12/6/18

Third International Conference and the 7th National AIDS Seminar took place in Tehran from November 21 to 23, ISNA quoted the conference's scientific director as saying. It is estimated that over 66,000 people in Iran have AIDS/HIV but over one third of them don't know they have the disease or deny it. -Tehran Times 11/23/18

The Islamic Republic of Iran Medical Council (IRIMC) says illegal economic sanctions imposed by the United States against Tehran have negative impacts on the country's health sector, calling for an immediate and humanitarian solution to the issue. -Press TV 11/19/18

Iranian hospitals are dealing with a shortage of nearly 100,000 nurses, according to Parliament's Health Commission Speaker Heidarali Abedi. Abedi told the commission on Sunday that while healthcare management experts recommend a nurse-to-bed ration of 2.5, Iran's current ratio is closer to 1.7. -Radio Farda 11/19/18

Iran's antibiotics consumption was the second highest among 65 countries, according to World Health Organization (WHO) report on Surveillance of Antibiotic Consumption published in November 2018. The report presents 2015 data on the consumption of systemic antibiotics from 65 countries and areas. -Tehran Times 11/14/18

A recent speech by a UN official calling on countries with hot climates to implement measures that would enable people with albinism to access skin cancer treatments has highlighted the lack of such a policy and accessible support for people living with albinism in Iran. -CHRI 11/6/18

With the full reinstatement of US sanctions on Iran on November 5, which will make financial transactions between Iranians and major economies in the world difficult and in many cases impossible, people's access to humanitarian goods such as essential food items, medicine and medical supplies in Iran could be imperiled. The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the international community to institute transparent financial mechanisms that will ensure trade in medicines and other essential humanitarian items will continue unimpeded with Iran. 10/23/18

The Iranian Health Ministry says the death toll in a recent spate of incidents involving bootleg alcohol has increased to 42. Ministry spokesman Iraj Harirchi said on October 1 that a total of 460 people in five provinces were hospitalized in the past three weeks after drinking tainted liquor. Harirchi said that 16 went blind and 170 people underwent dialysis. 10/2/18

At least 24 people have died in Iran in several separate incidents after drinking bootleg alcohol, Iranian news agencies reported on September 29. The largest number of deaths was reported in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, where 16 people died according to the semiofficial news agency ISNA. 10/1/18

Four people, including a woman, have died after drinking bootleg alcohol in the Iranian city of Karaj, west of the capital, a judiciary official has said. Nearly 40 people have been hospitalized, Karaj prosecutor Reza Shahkarami was quoted as saying on September 13 by the semiofficial ISNA news agency. 9/13/18

Iran's health ministry spokesman has admitted that the country is currently suffering from shortages of foreign-made medications, but, insisted that "it can be overcome". Blaming chaotic fluctuations in Iranian forex market and nosediving national currency, Iraj Harirchi says, "Since forty-fifty types of foreign medications have recently become scarce in Iran, the government has allocated $3.5 billion to purchase drugs." 8/15/18

Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh-Hashemi on Tuesday criticized the self-proclaimed human rights advocates for their silence toward U.S. sanctions moves against Iran which can impede access of Iranian patients to necessary drugs. "Undoubtedly, the anti-Iran sanctions would harm the elderly and infants while the so-called advocates of human rights are observing and approving them by their silence," Qazizadeh-Hashemi told reporters, ISNA reported. 7/12/18

Demonstrators protesting over water scarcity in southwestern Iran have clashed with police for a second night, local media report. The state-run IRNA news agency said the protesters threw projectiles at police and set trash cans and a car on fire in a protest that began late on July 1 in the city of Abadan, some 660 kilometers from Tehran. It did not say how many people were involved in the protest, but said the situation was now "under control." 7/2/18

Hundreds of residents in Abadan, a oil refining city in southwest Iran, have once again held a protest on Saturday, June 23, in front of the Governor's office to protest lack of drinkable and usable water. Protesters carried banners that read, "Potable water is our absolute right", sarcastically reminding the now obsolete slogan, "Nuclear energy is our absolute right", coined during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. 6/24/18

More than 800 people have been poisoned after eating toxic wild mushrooms across western Iran, local media report. A Health Ministry official said on May 21 that that the effects of the fungi had killed 11 people so far, Tasnim news agency reported. 5/22/18

Some three million Iranians have organ donor cards and some 10 percent have signed online consent forms for organ donation, Farahnaz Sadeq-Beigi, head of organ procurement program in Masih Daneshvari Hospital, a national research institute for tuberculosis and lung diseases, has said. 5/21/18

Sanctions against Iran are almost as old as I am. I was born in early 1980, and international sanctions against Iran began during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s as most global and regional powers supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in his invasion of the country. My father was injured and exposed to chemical weapons during that war, and as a result suffered from Parkinson's disease later in life. -Fariba Pajooh 5/16/18

Iran saw the opening of Downtism Cafe, the country's first cafe staffed by people living with disabilities including down syndrome and autism, on May 1, 2018. Downtism Cafe is located on the second floor of the Passage Ayeneh building on Vanak St. in northern Tehran. It was launched with the support of the State Welfare Organization, the main governmental body providing services to people living with disabilities in Iran, and the families of the cafe's employees. 5/9/18

Iranians say prices of foreign pharmaceuticals have surged in recent weeks because of the strengthening U.S. dollar, causing hardship for the sick and inciting anger toward people seen as profiting from the situation. In Tuesday's edition of VOA Persian's Straight Talk call-in show, callers from inside Iran accused the government of failing to deal with the problem. -Michael Lipin, VOA 4/18/18

Once again the old story of recurrent sand and dust storms in the southwestern province of Khuzestan is going around. For some years now elevated levels of PM 2.5 fine particles, tens of times above the standard average, is the new normal for the province. 2/15/18

The recent sand and dust storms have increased the PM 2.5 fine particles concentration to a 'beyond hazardous' level in the southwestern city of Ahwaz, Khuzestan province, on Tuesday. According to Khuzestan provincial department of environment the fine dust concentration has jumped to 60 times above the recommended limits once again over the past months. 2/14/18

A scientific and technological project dubbed "IRANOME" was opened today in the Rehabilitative and Welfare Sciences University in the presence of Minister of Health Dr. Seyed Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi and vice president for Scientific and Technological Affairs. With the implementation of this scientific project, researchers succeeded in transferring the highly-advanced sequencing technology of new generation of NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) genomes to the country, the report added. 1/16/18

Domestically manufactured rotavirus and rabies vaccines will enter Iranian market by 2019, Head of Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI) announced Monday. According to Head of Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI), Dr. Houman Kaghazian, the manufacture of rabies vaccine went underway at Pasteur Institute five years ago, and will be ready to enter the Iranian market in two years' time. 12/5/17

In a square in a poor eastern Tehran neighborhood known for its drug addicts and dealers, psychologist Atefeh Azimi draws another drop of blood from a worried passer-by's finger. She works on a nearby bench, where a sign next to her in English and in Farsi urges the public to receive free voluntary counseling and HIV testing. -AP 11/29/17

Iran has recently started a broad plan for vaccination of barbers, street cleaners, working children, and prisoners against hepatitis. "It is projected that within the framework of the [aforementioned] program some 200,000 to 300,000 prisoners will receive vaccination against hepatitis B annually and those diagnosed with hepatitis C will also undergo treatments," ISNA quoted Moayyed Alavian head of Iran's Hepatitis Network, as saying on Tuesday. 10/27/17

International Hospitals Group (IHG), a UK-based healthcare services company, has signed a memorandum of understanding worth 1.8 billion Euros with Iran to finance the construction of a network of cancer centers in the country, Iran's ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, said. 10/24/17

A phenomenon referred to as "Islamic Medicine" has been rapidly growing in popularity in Iran raising concerns in the Ministry of Health. The ministry has been calling on the Administrative Office of Seminaries to assist the ministry in denying the legitimacy of these services. 9/26/17

Royan Research Institute's 18th Congress on Reproductive Biomedicine and 13th Congress on Stem Cell Biology and Technology started work in Tehran on Wednesday with participation of domestic and foreign researchers. Parvaneh Afsharian said that most of the research plans which have been dispatched to the Royan congress are respectively from India, Italy, China, US, Japan, Germany, Iran, UK, Spain and Australia. 8/30/17

While 10 percent of Iranians are diagnosed with diabetes, 25 percent of the population are suffering from prediabetes. "That means if they don't get treatment, it will lead to type 2 diabetes," ISNA quoted the deputy health minister Reza Malekzadeh as saying. 8/28/17

The first phase of an enormous healthcare city was officially inaugurated in the city of Isfahan, central Iran, on Monday as the country avidly seeks to surge its global share of the medical tourism market. Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh-Hashemi accompanied by several provincial officials cut the ribbon on Isfahan Healthcare City which is comprised of orthopedic, obstetrics and gynecology clinics, as well as medical offices. 8/24/17

The Iranian minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare has said that the country has a potential to earn $7 billion in revenues through attracting one million health tourists on a yearly basis. Health-tourism companies from more than 30 countries including the Netherlands, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania and Uzbekistan are supposed to collaborate with Iran in this regard. 8/10/17

Iran has signed agreements with 13 neighboring countries with the aim of developing and reorganizing its medical tourism sector. The state-run Tourism Holding Company, affiliated with the Social Security Organization, is to unveil this week a comprehensive plan, which will be implemented with the participation of 22 hospitals and over 200 physicians, specialists, and surgeons. 8/7/17

Mass alcohol poisoning and related deaths have exposed an alcohol problem in the Islamic republic, where a ban introduced following the 1979 revolution has failed to prevent Iranians from drinking. Ninety-two people were poisoned, four fatally, after drinking in Sirjan in the southern province of Kerman, Iranian media reported on July 23. 7/25/17